http://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2016/08/trump-nj-headquarters-closed-not-long-after-it-opened-104651Donald Trump and his supporters claimed, once the Republican nomination was wrapped up, that traditionally blue New Jersey could be in play come November.
With great fanfare, Trump's campaign opened a New Jersey office on May 3 in Edison, which attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 supporters, according to a local news account.
Later that month, when one statewide poll showed Trump within 4 points of Hillary Clinton in the state, the Republican nominee projected confidence about the outcome.
”I think so,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on May 31, when asked if he could win New Jersey. “I mean, I love New Jersey. I am New Jersey. Like a second home. I have property there. I have a lot of employees there. And frankly, I think we're going to do well."
But the Trump campaign appears to have pulled up stakes in the Garden State.
After two messages left at the number of Trump’s New Jersey headquarters were not returned, POLITICO visited the nondescript suburban complex listed as its address.
That office no longer exists.
There were few signs the Trump campaign ever occupied the now-vacant office space — save for several peeled-off Trump campaign stickers visible through the front door.
Trump's latest FEC filing shows the campaign last made a rent payment on May 11 for the Edison property. The campaign vacated the office at least a month ago, according to two employees of the paper company located next door.
Republican state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, one of Trump’s few vocal backers in the New Jersey Legislature, said the campaign’s plan all along was to close the office after New Jersey’s primary on June 7.
But that timing was odd. The opening party for the Edison headquarters was the same night as the Indiana primary, when Trump’s victory over Ted Cruz essentially sealed the Republican nomination for Trump, making future contests, including New Jersey’s, a formality.
The invitation to the opening event did not mention that the headquarters was meant to be temporary, and even Pennacchio acknowledged he was unaware of the plan at the time.
“I didn’t get that memo either,” Pennacchio said.
Pennacchio said the Trump campaign hopes to open another office in New Jersey, though he knows of no immediate plans to do so.
A spokesperson for Trump's campaign, Hope Hicks, did not return a request for comment.
The scaling back in New Jersey comes as Trump's campaign has attempted to professionalize its operations and focus on a handful of key states, following Trump's grand pronouncements during the primary that he would compete in states like California and New York.
Despite Trump's professed bullishness after trailing by just four points in May, a more recent poll showed Clinton with a double-digit lead. New Jersey has 700,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans and hasn't voted for a GOP presidential candidate since 1988.
Catherine Martinez, New Jersey state director for the Trump campaign, did not return a call to her cell phone or a Twitter message.
Martinez was paid just over $10,000 by the Trump campaign on May 31, but did not receive any payments in June (aside from a travel reimbursement).
Two other staffers were also paid within a few days of the June 7 primary.
Spencer Silverman, a Franklin & Marshall student who served as an intern for Chris Christie until March, but now lists himself as the New Jersey field director for the Trump campaign, according to his LinkedIn page, was paid just over $5,000 on June 8.
Leonel Cantiolo, who also lists himself as the campaign's New Jersey field director, was paid $3,261 on June 10. Neither received additional payments in June. Spending data for July is not yet available.
By contrast, Hillary Clinton opened four campaign headquarters in New Jersey, including one at the Middlesex County Democratic headquarters, located in Metuchen, just a few miles from the site of the former Trump headquarters.
POLITICO also visited that office unannounced and found a few people inside, surrounded by Hillary Clinton campaign signs, cardboard cutouts of Clinton and President Obama, and a list of phone bank volunteers on a clipboard. Nobody in the office wanted to comment, instead referring questions to Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Kevin McCabe and a spokeswoman, Julie Roginsky.
McCabe said about 15 to 20 volunteers come to the Middlesex office about twice a week to make calls for the Clinton campaign, often calling voters in other, more competitive states.
Roginsky, a Democratic strategist, said the fact that the Trump campaign opened an office and shut it down so quickly was “all smoke and mirrors.”
“It’s not a surprise that he’s written off New Jersey because for the first time in my political life, he has to worry about winning states like Arizona and Georgia,” Roginsky said.
Trump's New Jersey supporters remain hopeful that he will make inroads in the state.
Asked how Trump could compete in deep blue New Jersey when Clinton is competing in traditionally Republican state, Pennacchio said “the election is three months from now.”
“Hopefully ... all the white noise stops and we can start focusing in on Hillary Clinton,” he said.
